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UNITE HERE! Hotel Strike Will Unleash Perfect Storm
Either out of arrogance, ignorance or both, San Francisco’s global hotels are seeking to provoke a hotel strike. Local managers employed by the Multi-Employer Group (MEG) of 13 hotels are powerless in the dispute, as decisions are being made at the hotel’s international corporate headquarters. The legal arrangement among the MEG allows a single hotel to hold up a settlement, which means that the most anti-union stance dictates bargaining for all 13. A hotel strike in September 2006 would unify the city’s social and political forces as never before, and many would be thrilled to have a local target for their frustrations over Bush Administration policies. San Francisco is the wrong city for global hotel forces to wage a pitched battle over the right to overwork maids, and to impose a two-tier health care system. With San Francisco’s hotel industry booming, provoking a strike is akin to economic suicide, and the city’s economy might not recover for years.
There is a critical fact about UNITE HERE! Local 2 that explains why its fight is widely seen as a battle for the soul of San Francisco: its members look like what is often described as the “other” San Francisco. The Asian, Filipino, Latino, African-American and white working people of Local 2 are the tenants fighting displacement, the workers fighting for a living wage, and the residents who support downtown paying its fair share.
Local 2 members are the heart of San Francisco’s progressive movement, and their allies will not let them down in their time of struggle.
Every elected official in San Francisco will support the union should a strike occur. Mayor Newsom, who was neutral when the prior strike began in 2004, is now a strong Local 2 ally. The full power of San Francisco city government will be at Local 2’s disposal. When Supervisors Daly, Mirkarimi and Peskin start working in common cause with the Mayor, strong Local 2 backer Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Senator Boxer and potentially even Senator Feinstein, then the global hotel owners better have some tricks up their sleeves because they will be in serious trouble.
Non-profit organizations, clergy, other unions, the gay and lesbian community, and activist groups of all kinds are aligned with the hotel workers. This will not be a repeat of the 1980 strike, where Local 2 was internally divided and failed to do the pre-strike community work necessary. To the contrary, Local 2 has been building bridges in the community for years, particularly since the labor dispute began two years ago.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3623#more
Local 2 members are the heart of San Francisco’s progressive movement, and their allies will not let them down in their time of struggle.
Every elected official in San Francisco will support the union should a strike occur. Mayor Newsom, who was neutral when the prior strike began in 2004, is now a strong Local 2 ally. The full power of San Francisco city government will be at Local 2’s disposal. When Supervisors Daly, Mirkarimi and Peskin start working in common cause with the Mayor, strong Local 2 backer Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Senator Boxer and potentially even Senator Feinstein, then the global hotel owners better have some tricks up their sleeves because they will be in serious trouble.
Non-profit organizations, clergy, other unions, the gay and lesbian community, and activist groups of all kinds are aligned with the hotel workers. This will not be a repeat of the 1980 strike, where Local 2 was internally divided and failed to do the pre-strike community work necessary. To the contrary, Local 2 has been building bridges in the community for years, particularly since the labor dispute began two years ago.
More
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=3623#more
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